Final Segment of Playa Vista Plans Unveiled

Maguire Thomas Partners, developers of the huge Playa Vista project on the former Howard Hughes property, Wednesday unveiled plans for construction of a marina community immediately south of Marina del Rey.

Preliminary drawings of a village-like marina were shown for the first time at a public meeting that attracted more than 200 people Wednesday night in Playa del Rey. The plans call for construction of a 45-acre marina, with slips for 750 boats, surrounded by hotels, shops, residences and public promenades.

Nelson C. Rising, head of the development team, called the plan “a starting point” and invited the public to offer opinions and criticisms of the proposal.

The marina proposal is the last element in Maguire Thomas Partners’ plans for the 887-acre Playa Vista project, which would be one of the largest residential, office and commercial complexes ever built in Los Angeles County.

Plans for most of the Playa Vista property were presented at a series of public meetings in June, with the exception of the remaining 139-acre portion that has now been revealed.

Development of the property, which belonged to the Hughes estate for years, has been blocked by a lawsuit filed by the Friends of Ballona Wetlands, a group of environmentalists who prefer to see some of the land remain as open space.

Maguire Thomas Partners and JMB Realty Corp. acquired a major interest in the property last February and quickly began drafting plans to develop it. Maguire Thomas is the developer for the First Interstate World Center, the tallest building in downtown Los Angeles. JMB Realty is the developer of Century City.

Rising said in an interview that he believes a settlement of the protracted legal battle over the wetlands is near, although final agreement with the environmental group has yet to be reached.

A settlement would eliminate a major obstacle to development of the vast Playa Vista property that runs north from the Westchester bluffs toward Marina del Rey.

Overall, the entire Playa Vista project would contain 11,750 residential units--including 1,760 apartments for various income levels--and 5 million square feet of office space.

Maguire Thomas dropped plans for a regional shopping mall and instead has dispersed 670,000 square feet of commercial space throughout the development.

After months of study, Rising unveiled the concept of a Mediterranean-style marina with public plazas, hotels, shops and residences facing the water.

Douglas J. Gardner, vice president of the Playa Vista project, said about half of the boat slips would be built in a harbor area just south of Marina del Rey.

The remainder of the slips would be located along the south side of the 139-acre marina parcel in front of low-rise residential buildings on shore and residential islands in the center of the waterway.

Around the marina, a total of 1,226 residential units, 1,800 hotel rooms and 200,000 square feet of commercial space would be built.

The project must win approval from a host of local, state and federal agencies, but Los Angeles County holds the key to the marina’s fate because the developers must persuade county officials to give up some land.

The Playa Vista property stops short of the Marina del Rey boat channel, and in order to bring water to the proposed new marina, a channel would have to be dug, severing the existing Fiji Way in Marina del Rey.

“Our property lies a little bit east of the water,” Rising said. “That point is not lost on us.”

In private negotiations with the county, Maguire Thomas has pressed for county consideration of a marina channel that would require removal of a Sheriff’s Department substation and Department of Beaches and Harbors offices.

Ted Reed, director of the county Department of Beaches and Harbors, described the talks as “very preliminary discussions on the scope of the county’s involvement in the project.”

Reed said the county is interested in a partnership with the developers to ensure that boat slips in the new marina are available to the public.

Both sides said agreement has not been reached in the closed-door discussions that began in earnest in August.

But Rising said, “I am optimistic there is progress being made.”

Plans for New Marina Maguire Thomas Partners, developer of the huge Playa Vista project on land near Marina del Rey that was part of industrialist Howard Hughes’ estate, has unveiled plans for a new small-craft harbor directly south of the marina. The new marina would have slips for 750 boats and be surrounded by hotels, shops, residences and public promenades. To bring water to the land locked-property and provide access to the ocean, a new channel would be cut though Fiji Way to reach the existing Marina del Rey channel. Facts about the Playa Vista Marina plan: Size of marina property: 139 acres Water area: 45 acres Boat Slips; 750 Hotel Rooms: 1,800 Residential Units: 1,226 Commercial Space: 200,000 square feet.